DECEMBER 1, 1913 



849 



Fig. 7.- 



-The large winter-cases piled at one side of the apiary, ready for 

 use in the fall. 



and his four helpers, the latter stopping- foi 

 a moment just as they were starting for an 

 outyard. Fig. 9. Mr. Holtermann may 

 well be i_iroud of his efficient helpers, and 

 they in turn appreciate the experience they 

 are getting in so short a time. For my part, 

 T never enjoyed two days' work more than 

 the two days last July when I, too, was a 

 Canadian. 



Cuntinued in next issue. 



time after, I mentior- 

 ed the matter to F. J. 

 Miller, of London. It 

 was late in the season, 

 and he had some ex- 

 tracting to do. He ask- 

 ed me to send it to 

 him, saying that he 

 would try it. This 

 made me feel that what 

 was of no use to me 

 should not be of much 

 use to Mr. Miller ; and, 

 of course, what would 

 or could be of use to 

 Mr. Miller might be of 

 use to me. However, 

 the steam-heated hon- 

 ey-knife was not tried 

 the following season. 



By last spring, how- 

 e V e r, inasmuch as 

 there was much greater capacity for ex- 

 tracting I began to feel the need of some- 

 thing to assist in uncapping. I have had 

 splendid help in uncapping; yet there 

 was an apparent need of moi'e heljj in this 

 direction, so I ordered an outfit of steam- 

 heated knives and one boiler having two 

 outlets, to which to attach the rubber tubes 



THE STEAM-HEATED HONEY-KNIFE AND THE 

 HONEY-PUMP 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN 



Beekeepers should be more interested in 

 hearing of something which will reduce the 

 expense and trouble of the production of 

 honey than in reading about great honey 

 crops. That which reduces the cost of un- 

 capping before extracting, reduces the cost 

 of producing extracted honey. "Especially 

 during the time of extracting labor is scarce 

 and high-priced in this locality. This ap- 

 plies particularly to skilled help for the 

 beekeeper. Douljtless this is true in many 

 other localities. Give me any thing which 

 cuts down the help required in extracting, 

 and I shall be enabled to " keep more bees." 



When, some years ago, Mr. E. R. Root 

 handed me a steam-heated honey-knife, tell- 

 ing me that I could try it and he would like 

 to have my report, I thought to myself, " I 

 can not be bothered with a knife having a 

 rubber tube at one end to hamper and re- 

 strict the uncapper's movements." I thought, 

 too, that the extracting-house was hot 

 enough without artificial heat. Consequent- 

 ly the knife was put ujDon the shelf. Some 



Fig. 8. — Details of the metal cover. The metal 

 part is made like a large square pan with the cor- 

 ners soldered. The inside part, which is removable, 

 consists of a rim filled with several thicknesses of 

 heavy strawboard. 



